


Louder Than Love

by Sime



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: AU, Alec studies shadowhunters, Forbidden Love, M/M, Magnus studies warlocks, Shadow World is a mythology, Slow Build, archaeologist AU, everybody are mundanes, player!Magnus, virgin!Alec
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 23:39:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7075402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sime/pseuds/Sime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec is an archaeologist who joins the exploration of the ruins that are called 'the Institute' to study the mythology of Shadow World. The work site is large and almost like a small community of their own. Like every community, this one comes with rules as well;  dating your colleagues is strictly restricted.</p><p>Magnus is famous around the place for his extravagant parties and the number of lovers he's rumored to have. He is everything that someone like Alec should stay away from, but can he? Is Magnus as bad as everyone thinks he is?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Louder Than Love

 "I'm pretty sure those two are dating", Isabelle said and nodded toward two people from the Seelie department who kept whispering to each others, ignoring everyone else around the table. They were all in the canteen to enjoy of their dinner, but those two seelies did seem to enjoy of something else more than the dinner.

That's how everyone got called around here. If you majored in seelies, you were called a seelie. Isabelle was also a seelie. Alec, however, belonged to the Shadowhunter department, and was supposed to sit in an entirely different table than what he currently was— rivalry between the departments was alive and well.

Alec hoped he'd be forgiven since he was a rookie. He had arrived to the work site a week ago and so far his sister was the best company he had found for himself. Isabelle had been working here for couple of months already and seemed to know everything about everyone. For her, adaptation was a form of art she liked to dance with, just like she did with all of her other hobbies.

"What if they're just discussing about something important?" Alec suggested. Isabelle always teased him that he was too innocent to believe that people would actually obey the rules, and here, dating was heavily discouraged.

In other words— it'd ruin your career.

"I'm sure they are", Isabelle smirked and shoveled some more macaronis into her red mouth. Yeah, no gourmet dishes for them. Their life was supposed to be all about the work as long as the project was running.

Alec wasn't going to complain. His work was fascinating and this was a dream job for all archaeologists that not many could get their hands on. Right now his goal was to get to see the Institute— the Institute referred to the huge ruins that they all worked on to study more about the mythological Shadow World— and as a rookie he needed to go through the arrival training before he would get to the real deal.

Tomorrow would finally be the day Alec had been waiting for all week. He'd get to see the Institute in all its glory for the first time.

While Alec tried adding spices to his macaroni dish to make it more interesting, a group of loud people stormed into the canteen filling the room with laughter and bickering.

They were all very dirty from the outside, sand and dirt all over their uniforms and skin, and Alec felt a bang of jealousy when his brains registered the reason for that━ the group had come straight from the ruins.

A smaller part of the ruins located a bit further away from the Institute and since it was an area that was hard to reach— a big part of it was underground— the group that got to work with it often camped over there for days. It was called the City of Bones and it was perhaps the most interesting part of the entire project site.

If getting to join the Institute project was a dream come true, that was just a warm up. _Everyone_ wanted to explore the City of Bones, and only few got the chance.

Anyone who looked as dirty as those people did had to be coming from the City of Bones, there was no question about it.

"Oh, look at them go", Isabelle said and even she had envy in her voice, even though the thought of spending days underground without showering repelled her. "Alec, those are warlocks."

It was Alec's first time seeing anyone from the Warlock department. The warlocks weren't always around as much since they were usually in a higher position and got assigned with important work such as the City of Bones. Their department wasn't as large as many others were, because their job was more challenging. Every year lots of people apply to the job but only few are selected. Many of the applicants have wrong motives— they go for the fame and to get to the most interesting project sites when in fact, that's not how you should choose your department at all.

You were supposed to choose with your heart. Choose who you _were._

Since it was Alec's first time seeing warlocks, he looked at them with care. Every department had their own kind of people. Werewolves were usually quite tough and beefy and _very_ messy; Vampires tended to be skinny and the crazy scientist kind of people; Shadowhunters were more on the arrogant side and kept alert for most of the time, studying their surroundings; Seelies were the hippies who defended the rights and manners but had something sneaky about them. Surprisingly Isabelle did seem to fit well with them.

And then there were the warlocks— they were the most interesting people Alec had seen so far. They seemed to have the most diversity amongst them.  But one thing that they all had in common, was elegancy.

"They're kinda know-it-all", Isabelle had described them to Alec the other day. "Because they get the most challenging jobs they think they have knowledge ten lifetimes more than the rest of us."

For Alec they didn't seem too bad. Although the warlocks sat down all to one table sticking to themselves as how the other departments seemed to do as well, they still reached to the vampires and werewolves next to them, sharing some of their jokes.

Alec offered to return their trays to the dishwashing section after he and Isabelle had emptied their plates. He walked past the warlock table and their bickering planted a smallest smile on Alec's lips. He glanced toward them while sorting out his and his sister's dishes.

They all looked confident but not in the arrogant way shadowhunters often did. Their little gathering was lively and most of them looked ridiculously confident in their own skins even with all that dirt on them. Alec couldn't understand how they managed to keep their elegance with all of that, but they did.

In the middle range of the long table sat one individual that seemed to be the center of the attention. Even with all the dirt on him, this warlock seemed to have some serious fashion style in him. They were all wearing their working uniforms that were required in more dangerous working environments, but his looked slightly different, like he had spent time styling it. The collar was turned up to touch his ears and the sleeves were rolled up to meet his caramel brown elbows. And if Alec saw right, there was a flash of expensive looking belt around his waist.

After he was done sorting the trays Alec was ready to leave the canteen and decided to walk straight past the warlocks to get a better look. He could now see the face of that warlock he had been looking at, and Alec felt a jolt inside him.

The guy was exactly Alec's style.

When he was right in front of their table, that guy lifted his playful eyes to meet up with Alec's that flickered with shy interest. For two seconds they shared that connection before Alec turned his head away and rushed to catch up with his sister.

It wasn't until that moment that Alec realized the guy was Asian. In his opinion they were beautiful, that was all.

Alec, just like everyone else here, had come to do his work and nothing more, but it didn't mean that he would stop appreciating beautiful things — or people. There was nothing wrong with taking a look, and that's all he was doing.

When he got back to Isabelle she had a smirk on her face.

"What?" Alec asked.

"Nothing, let's go", she simply said.

Exactly, it was nothing at all.

 

—

 

The road was bumpy and the big rocks on the sandy landscape made the truck swing like it was trying to toss around its passengers. Alec was fine with rocking motions, but his new friend Jace didn't look as good.

"You alright, Jace?" Alec asked out of courtesy.

Jace was a new recruit like Alec and they had joined the project site on the same day. That made them bond immediately which made everything easier. They were still finding their place in this new community and it was comforting for Alec not to have to do it alone.

The Institute came into their view and the green tint of Jace's face decreased, making room for excitement. This was something the both of them had been waiting for who knew how long.

It was gorgeous. The ruins were bigger than Alec had expected and looked more in shape than what he had heard of. "That's just the outer exterior", someone had warned him during the training period. There were other people from other departments walking around confidently, grabbing tools like they knew what they were doing. Alec could only hope that he'd start looking like that soon.

"Shadowhunters, this way!" Hodge, their instructor, waved at them. Jace and Alec jumped out of the car, ready to take in their first proper impression of the Institute.

Entering the ruins Alec could finally understand why no one wanted to raise their hopes too high. The big building was standing proudly, but it was full of holes and parts that had collapsed. Wherever you went you had to be careful with your steps.

High risk level of getting injured and low chances of success— that's what their lives were going to be from now on. Alec couldn't wait to get started. Wherever he looked he saw sand and dirt and all he could think was what could lie beneath them.

It was unbelievably beautiful. Alec loved how the ruins made him feel like he had jumped backwards in time, and he could smell and see things that were alien for this world they now lived in.

Alec's and Jace's unit spent their first day getting to know the Institute before actually starting their work. It was extremely important to know your area first to minimize the risks of accidentally ruining any material remains.

Alec tried to learn and see as much as possible and kept his focus all day. It was exhausting but he had never been more excited.

Much to everyone's disappointment Hodge ended their day quite early telling them to go home and make some notes. The unit gathered up right outside the Institute waiting for their ride, downing water to wash away the dust from their dry mouths.  

Sound of another truck getting closer made all of their heads turn into that direction— a carful of warlocks rolled into the scenery. They had an open-back truck where most of them were chilling outside looking like the wind or the sand around them didn't bother them. Maybe they were used to it. Whatever it was that they were doing, they looked cool while doing it.

Alec could recognize one particular warlock amongst them— it was the same guy he had seen yesterday at dinner. Today he was all clean and he had cut his hair. Yesterday his hair had still been somewhat wilder, but today the sides of his head were shaved short and the top part had been left long. It was lifted up and few stripes of blonde hang in front of his face.

He looked even better today.

Alec wasn't afraid to look at him, but it was hard to tell if the guy looked back at him. He was wearing big black sunglasses but his head was turned into Alec's direction, so he had hopes.

The fact that the warlocks had arrived just when they were about to leave made Alec disappointed, though he told himself not to. What would it matter anyway?

"I heard that the warlocks get to work on night shifts", Jace leaned in to speak to Alec.

"Why?"

It didn't make sense to work at night when it was dark. That'd only make the work of an archaeologist careless and dangerous.

"Underground is dark twenty-four seven", Jace said and winked.

Needless to say they'd be going to the City of Bones, again.

Alec surely wasn't jealous.

 

—

 

After getting back to the place Alec and Jace was supposed to start calling 'home' from now on, they washed quickly to get to have a little celebration in the name of their first day at field work.

Alec loved what he had done today at work, but the sand just got _everywhere._ Yes, even into his underwear. The sand was the only thing that had gotten into his pants anyway. It was kinda sad, if you thought about it that way. In Alec's opinion it wasn't still as bad as letting someone into your pants just because everyone expected you to and not because you wanted them to.

Not that Alec had never wanted anyone— the right guy just hadn't crossed his path. Isabelle called him prune constantly and said that he should just let go of his high morals and have some fun.

Tonight Alec was going to have some fun, but not in the way Isabelle had meant. It was Saturday night— only Sundays were free in this workaholic paradise of theirs— and he, Jace and some other shadowhunters were at the canteen that turned into a bar every Saturday. It was nothing fancy, but everyone was grateful as long as there was alcohol once a week.

Alec wasn't a big drinker but he didn't mind getting one or two beers at times. It did help with relaxing after long days of work. Right now he was sitting at a table listening to Jace's rambles. He was still feeling a bit awkward around the other— Alec warmed up to people slowly— but Jace either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Alec!" a familiar voice of his sister carried into his ears. "What are you doing here?"

Alec gave her a look. "What do you think?"

"But it's boring here! Can't you hear where all the fun is coming from?" Isabelle said referring to the faint background noise that was coming from the way of one of the living quarters.

"Oh I thought the voices were inside my head. My bad", Jace joked. His jokes were often bad.

"Come on boys, let me grab some vodka and I'll show you the real party", Isabelle said before disappearing for a moment. She returned with two bottles of vodka and gave one to Jace. Alec wasn't sure it was the best idea— Jace could be pretty hyper even without alcohol.

"So, where is this party you're taking us?" Alec asked.

"It's at the warlocks premises, of course. Magnus throws the best parties so no one else even bothers", Isabelle explained carelessly. Maybe she was tipsy already, Alec couldn't really tell. He wasn't good with this partying thing.

"Who?"

"Magnus Bane, you must've heard of him", Isabelle said it like it was obvious. Then she remembered that she was talking to her brother and explained, "Magnus is pretty famous around here. He knows everyone and everyone knows him, which causes all the rumors about him."

"What rumors?" Jace asked. Unlike Jace, Alec didn't really care about rumors.

"Well", Isabelle pursed her lips, "Magnus bends all the rules. _All_ of them. He goes around a lot."

The way she looked at them delivered rest of the message. Isabelle had explained Alec that although dating wasn't acceptable of course there would be people who did it anyway, but that most of the relationships were simply physical. There was no denying it wasn't unexpected if you put hundreds of adults to live together and then told them dating isn't allowed.

"Oh yeah", Jace chipped in, "I _have_ heard of him! I think the wildest rumor I heard was that his parties are actually orgies."

Isabelle laughed and threw her head back. "Let's not believe everything, boys. I've been to his parties and not everyone were naked."

"Not _every_ one?!" Jace said, his voice rising few octaves.

 _Straight boys,_ Alec thought shaking his head. This Magnus sounded pretty extreme. Honestly Alec envied him a little. Not the parties or the popularity he appeared to have, but the fact that he was comfortable doing something like that.

Being with people had never been too easy for Alec and he had struggled with his sexuality as a teenager. To think that there were people out there who were comfortable enough to do all of that _stuff_ … he couldn't help but feel envious. He wished he was confident enough just to walk into a sex shop like it was any other store selling normal stuff. Because it _was_ normal, at least it should be, but something inside Alec was stopping him, telling him he couldn't. It had nothing to do with whether Alec wanted to go to a sex shop or not, but just the fact that he couldn't do it, bothered him.

"Alright, let's go see this orgy", Alec joked and grabbed Jace's arm. Jace had stopped to gape at Isabelle, his mouth hanging open.

They stepped in and immediately Alec lost his ability to hear anything said to him from anyone who wasn't standing right in his personal space. The music was so loud and the bass so emphasized that he could feel the rhythm shaking his whole body.

The place was filled with people from all of the departments. Even if they had rivalry at the work site, here everyone seemed to mingle together forgetting the real world for one night. That was something Alec could picture himself doing, just not with the dancing.

They moved forward passing all the dancing people, trying to get closer to the back where the bartender was. She was just one of the vampires mixing up some bloody mary drinks for anyone willing to drink her experiments.

Alec kept glancing around looking for familiar faces. It was silly, really, but since pretty much everyone cool seemed to be at the party, Alec wished he'd see the good looking warlock again. The fact that the warlocks had probably pulled a night shift made the chances of seeing him even smaller, and it made Alec feel even more stupid for wishing to see him.

Something inside him told Alec to look left, and that's when he saw him. At first Alec almost couldn't recognize him, that's how different he looked. And in the end, it was nothing you couldn't expect from him. The guy had strong makeup around his eyes and jewelry all over his neck and fingers, and when he turned his head, his cheeks sparkled from glitter.

He, of course, wasn't alone. The warlock was sitting on a couch, surrounded by men and women who all paid him attention, holding his drinks and whispering things into his ears. He sat with such elegance, as if he owned the place, much in the same way he had in the canteen.

Alec put together one plus one and got a pretty good idea what his name could be. Alec wasn't too surprised. The guy had always looked special from the moment Alec had first laid eyes on him.

While Alec had been concentrating in staring at the warlock, Isabelle and Jace had disappeared into somewhere and Alec was left alone. He turned around to look for them and after a while he could spot the two of them on a dance floor. Just as Alec was about to go catch them, someone grabbed his arm.

Alec turned in a lightning speed and found himself staring into a pair of Asian eyes.

"Hey", the stranger said, although with all the stalking Alec had done the man hardly felt like a stranger. His touch on Alec's arm lingered. "Can I offer you a drink?"

"Umm, sure." Alec didn't feel like drinking more, but it'd be awkward to say no. Especially because he didn't want the warlock to go away quite yet.

"I haven't seen you before", the man said and waved at the bartender vampire. Alec got even more nervous about the drink he'd be getting, since the vampire was doing it.

"Yeah, I'm, umm, new. I came here a week ago", Alec said and rubbed his arm nervously at the spot where the warlock's hand had been.

"I'm Magnus", he introduced himself and confirmed Alec's suspicions.

Of course he'd be Magnus Bane. Who else could?

"Alec."

Magnus nodded as if saying 'nice to meet you'. Alec's drink came and Magnus reached for it without giving the vampire another look. His coordination skills were excellent. Magnus handed the drink to Alec, their fingers brushing for long enough it to be considered as flirtatious.

Alec's heart leaped for a run, and the music had no longer anything to do with it.

"Well, Alec, if you need help with your notes don't hesitate to visit me", Magnus said, winked at Alec and danced his way back to his friends.

Giving Magnus one last glance Alec dived onto the dance floor to drag Isabelle and Jace home, shoving his bloody mary to the first passerby whose hands were empty. There was no way he'd drink that, not even if it was given by Magnus.

Especially not if it was given by Magnus.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Heeello and welcome!  
> unless I get a massive writing spring tomorrow like I did today, you're gonna have to wait 2 weeks for the next chapter. I know, it's sad. But I'm going to a work camp and I'll have zero possibilities to write, sooo....  
> Multichaptered AU fic. Let's see how many chapters there will be, but so far all I can say is MANY.  
> Thank you if you came to visit me <3


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